Fastening distributor



April 12, 1938. M. F. BUcKLEY4 FASTENING DISTRIBUTOR Filed OCC. 29, 1955 VEN TU@ Patented Apr. 12, 1938 FASTENING DISTRIBUTOR Michael F. Buckley, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterscn, N. J., a corporation of New- `ersey Application October 29, 1935, Serial No. 47,283

13 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus, commonly known as distributors, by which such fastenings as nails may be taken from a mass and delivered in loads, each including a definite number of 5 fastenings all arranged with their points in the same direction. This may be for the ,successive delivery of the loads of fastenings to a heelattaching machine.

In apparatus of the character above indicated,

a well-known arrangement is that disclosed in Letters Pat-ent of the United States No. 1,005,303, Pope, October l0, 1911. The fastenings are received by the apparatus of that patent from a rotary drum upon a grooved raceway, without l5 any denite direction of the heads and points, and are acted upon during their passage between upper and lower raceway-sections vby a, reversing member termed a balancing-bar. This device permits the nails moving heads rst along the 2O raceway to pass unaiected, but receives in grooves corresponding to those of the raceway the fastenings advancing points first and inverts them, so all reach the lower raceway-section similarly positioned. To allow the reversing device to act accurately, its grooves should be alined transversely with the grooves of the upper raceway-section and should bear to them a predetermined vertical relation. Moreover, though it is customary to provide an adjustment whereby the distance between the rear edge of the reversing device and the forward extremity of the upper section may be varied to adapt the apparatus for operation upon fastenings of different lengths, it is desirable that there shall be established a normal relation of parallelism between the elements, from which the various adjustments may be made. Heretofore, the usual practice has been to create all these normal positions when the apparatus is assembled. It is found, however,

that manufacturing irregularities and wear in use disturb the preferred relations, so diniculty is experienced both in setting up and maintaining the apparatus. It is an object of my invention to so organize fastening-distributors of the kind previously indicated, that the correct relation between the elements may be established readily at the time cf their assembly and such relation restored if it is later disturbed. In the attainment of this object, I furnish the reversing member with separate adjusting means wherebyits relation to the raceway may be varied independently in different directions, one of which is preferably approximately horizontal while another is approximately vertical. 'I'ne horizontal movement may bein a plurality oi directions. By the chosen vertical adjustment, the distance of the reversing member below the upper raceway-section may be established, while by the horizontal adjustments the alinement of the grooves in the reversing :member and in the raceway may be fixed accurately and also -the normal space between the extremities vof said reversing member and the raceway determined. I prefer to obtain these variations in positionV by a mounting for the reversing membenwhich mounting comprises 1,0 two supporting members respectively movable to give the effect sought and conveniently clamped in place by screws passing through openings which give a capacity for relative lateral movement between said screws and the elements 1.5 secured. kAs herein illustrated, the adjustable mounting acts also upon the usual adjusting means for the reversing member which adapts the apparatus for operating upon fastenings of different lengths and which commonly includes a rack and pinion. These and the reversing member are thus positioned together by the supporting means to maintain the desired relation between the elements.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective View of one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the more essential portions thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional detail in the plane of a pair of upper and lower adjusting screws.

There is shown, corresponding in general arrangement to the like elements of the previouslymentioned patent, a portion of an oscillatory V raceway-frame I0 in which are carried parallel upper raceway bars I2 and lower b-ars I4. In alined grooves I6 in the bars of the upper and lower sections, the nails or other fastenings to be separated into loads are conveyed. Just in 40 advance of the forward ends of the bars I2 and above the rear extremities of the bars I4 is a reversing member in the form of a balancing-bar I8, containing grooves 20 which should be alined with the grooves I6 and which should also be at 45 their rear nail-receiving ends a definite distance below the adjacent ends of the grooves in the bars I2. Nails traveling heads rst down the upper raceway-section are so tilted downwardly by the weight of the heads as these leave the 50 bars I2, that they pass beneath the balancing-bar I8 and continue on down the lower racewaysection; but when the points of the nails are forward, they bridge the space between the bars l2 and the balancing-bar, contacting with the 55 latter as their points enter the grooves 20. When the heads leave the bars l2 in the continued advance of these nails, the support of the points upon the balancing-bar causes the direction of travel to be reversed, they overbalancing rearwardly so the heads pass iirst beneath the bar and thus proceed downwardly in the grooves in the lower raceway-bars I4. Consequently, al1 the nails are delivered from the raceway in the same direction. If the length of the nails in use varies, the space between the bars I2 and the balancing-bar must, of course, be similarly changed. For this purpose the balancing-bar is arranged to slide upon the frame I0 and has at each end a rack 22, with which racks mesh pinions 24 upon a shaft 26 rotatable by a handwheel 28. By turning the hand-wheel the operator may lessen the space to be bridged by short nails and lengthen it for long nails.

Such a single adjusting device for the balancing-bar as that just outlined furnishes means only for a change of nail-size, and leaves the correction of manufacturing defects and maintenance-difficulties unprovided for and frequently requiring considerable labor. The present invention furnishes means for readily obtaining the proper relation of the elements. At each side of the frame I0, in the same general location in which the balancing-bar has been arranged to slide longitudinally of the raceway in previous organizations, I arrange for like movement in approximately horizontal direction a bracket 30. This bracket may be in the form of an anglepiece having a horizontal arm 32 extending transversely of the raceway, and from the outer edge of which horizontal arm rises a vertical arm 34. Through the arm 32 are spaced openings 36, 36, which receive clamping screws 38, 38 threaded into the frame. The openings are larger in diameter than are the screws, so there is such clearance that the bracket may be adjusted in all directions horizontally and fixed in position by tightening the screws. Through the arm 34 of each bracket are two substantially vertical slots 40, 40 receiving screws 42, 42 securing upon the bracket a block 44. This block has an approximately horizontal flange 45 and upon this one end of the balancing-bar I8 is arranged to slide. Further, the bar-adjusting shaft 26 is journaled in an upward extension of the forward portion of each block so said shaft and bar may be moved together, maintaining the racks 22 and the shaftpinions 24 always in mesh. It will be seen that the two supporting members 30 and 34, with their respective adjusting means 3B, 38 and 40, 42, furnish a universal mounting for the balancing-bar and its adjusting gearing. If, either in the assembling or the use of the apparatus, it is found that there is not a proper vertical relation between the grooves in the balancing-bar and the grooves in the race-way bars l2, it may quickly be righted and the desired normal position attained by loosening the screws 42, raising or lowering the block 44 with the balancing bar and its adjusting shaft 26 and then resetting the screws. Or, if the raceway-grooves and balancing-bar-grooves are out of alinement transversely, an adjustment of the bracket 3D and the balancing bar upon the frame under the control of the screws 33 will correct this defect. These screws 38 are readily accessible through openings 46, 46 located in the block 44 at one side of the screws 42, 42. In addition to this transverse adjustment of the balancing-bar-grooves, the bar may, by virtue of the clearance on all sides of the screws 38 furnished by the openings 36, be shifted independently at its ends toward and from the upper section of the raceway to give a uniform space which will be maintained for all adjustments made by the shaft 25 and associated gearing for different lengths of nails.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a reversing member arranged for contact with fastenings traveling along the raceway, and plural adjusting means arranged to independently vary the relation of the reversing member to the raceway in directions substantially at right-angles to each other.

2. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a reversing member arranged for contact with fastenings traveling along the raceway, and a mounting for the reversing member comprising two supporting members, one of said supporting members being variable in position upon the raceway approximately horizontally and the other member being variable in position upon the first supporting member approximately vertically.

3. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a reversing member arranged for contact with fastenings traveling along the raceway, and a mounting for the reversing member comprising two supporting members, one of said supporting members being variable in position upon the raceway approximately horizontally and in a plurality of directions and the other member being variable in position upon the rst supporting member approximately vertically.

4. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a reversing member arranged for contact with fastenings traveling along the raceway, and a mounting for the reversing member comprising two supporting members, one of said supporting members being movable upon the raceway and the other movable upon its companion supporting member, one of said supporting members being provided with openings, and clamping screws passing through the openings and being threaded into the raceway and into the other supporting member, there being a capacity for relative movement of adjustment between the screws and the elements which they secure.

5. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a

member co-operating with the raceway and adapted to reverse end for end the positions which fastenings have occupied in said raceway prior to their contact with the member, means arranged to adjust the relation of the reversing member to the raceway to adapt it to operate upon fastenings of different lengths, and separate means arranged to vary independently the relation of the opposite ends of the reversing member to the raceway.

6. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway, a fastening-reversing member co-operating with the raceway, means arranged to adjust the relation of the reversing member to the raceway, and means arranged to mount the reversing member and its adjusting means upon the raceway with a capacity for a universal movement of adjustment.

'7. In a distributor for fastenings, a raceway provided with fastening-conveying grooves, a fastening-reversing member having grooves co-operating with the ends of the raceway grooves, means arranged to adjust the ends of the grooves in the reversing member toward and from those of the raceway, and means arranged to vary the adjusting means to attain its normal position and there secure it against movement.

8. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a reversing member co-operating therewith, means arranged to adjust the member with respect to the raceway, and a mounting for the member and the adjusting means variable upon the raceway and by which said member and means may be moved bodily together and secured against movement.

9. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a reversing member co-operating therewith, means arranged to adjust the member with respect to the raceway, a mounting for the member and the adjusting means supported for universal movement upon the raceway, and means arranged to x the mounting in different positions..

10. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a reversing member co-operating therewith and provided with a rack, a pinion meshing with the rack, and a mounting for the rack and pinion variable in position upon the raceway.

11. In a nail-distributor, a grooved raceway, a member variable in position upon the raceway, a second member variable in position upon the rst member and in a diierent direction from the movement of said rst member, and a balancingbar movable upon the second member and having grooves co-operating with the raceway grooves.

12. In a nail-distributor, a grooved raceway, a bracket movable upon the raceway and provided with openings in an arm extending transversely of the raceway and with slots in a vertical arm, screws passing through the bracket-openings with a clearance and being threaded into the raceway, a block supported by the vertical arm of the bracket, screws extending through the bracket-slots and being threaded into the block, and a balancing-bar movable upon the block and having grooves co-operating with the racewaygrooves.

13. In a nail-distributor, a grooved raceway, a bracket movable upon the raceway and pro-vided with openings in an arm extending transversely of the raceway and with slots in a vertical arm, screws passing through the bracket-openings with a clearance and being threaded into the raceway, a block supported by the vertical arm of the bracket, screws extending through the bracket-slots and being threaded into the block, a balancing-bar movable upon the block, said balancing-bar having grooves co-operating with the raceway-grooves and being provided with rackteeth, and a shaft rotatable upon the block and having teeth meshing with the rack-teeth.

MICHAEL F. BUCKLEY. 

